Ionization and proton induced radiation damage in crystal scintillators

Abstract

Crystal detectors have been used widely in high energy and nuclear physics experiments, medical instruments and homeland security applications. A crucial issue for crystal detectors to be used for future HEP experiments at the energy and intensity frontiers is radiation damage by ionization dose as well as charged and neutral hadrons. This paper reports recent investigations on radiation damage in various crystal scintillators. Irradiations up to 340 Mrad of ionization dose, 1E16 p/cm^2 fluence and 1016 n/cm2 fluence were carried out at the JPL total ionization dose facility and the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center, respectively. Results of these investigations show excellent radiation hardness of bright and fast LYSO crystals which may provide a stable detector in an extreme harsh radiation environment, such as the proposed HL-LHC.

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